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The Orville
The Orville is an American television series airing on Fox. It centers around the adventures of Captain Ed Mercer and his crew as they explore space, battle enemies, and deal with their personal lives. Prior to launch, the show was described science fiction fashioned as an homage to past science fiction television shows, particularly the series Star Trek and the Twilight Zone."Brannon Braga, David A. Goodman, Jason Clark THE ORVILLE Interview Comic Con HD". Seat42F. YouTube. July 23, 2017. Unlike the majority of those shows, however, The Orville often relies upon comedic elements to create a lighthearted, personable atmosphere; and the show's main characters are less "paragons of virtue" as they are portrayals of flawed individuals in a highly-advanced age of space exploration. The series was renewed for a second season on November 2, 2017. Development Prior to development, Seth MacFarlane became interested in an episodic science fiction television series much like Star Trek of the 1960s through early 2000s. He began working on an initial script for an unnamed show in March, 2016, and by April, Fox had picked up his idea for as "The Orville" for 13 episodes. MacFarlane insisted that doing the series was a childhood dream of his, and inspired by popular science fiction series such as the Twilight Zone and Star Trek. Writer and Executive Producer Brannon Braga elaborates: "There can be no doubt we are paying tribute to the Star Trek ethos – and others such as The Twilight Zone ethos – but we don’t just want to rip shit off."Pascale, Anthony. "Interview: Brannon Braga On How ‘The Orville’ Pays Tribute To Star Trek While Setting A New Course". Trekmovie.com. Sept. 17, 2017. Casting On July 24, 2016, it was revealed at the San Diego ComicCon that MacFarlane would star in The Orville as the Captain alongside Adrianne Palicki (as Commander Kelly Grayson), Scott Grimes, Peter Macon, J. Lee and Chad L. Coleman. Later in the year, Halston Sage, and Penny Johnson Jerald were cast as regulars. It was also announced Jon Favreau would be directing the pilot and that Charlize Theron would guest star during a future episode. Writing The initial stages of writing began in March, 2016, by MacFarlane, and a working script for the pilot was completed was finished at some point by April of that year. When asked about how he invents the names of characters from alien worlds, MacFarlane says that the names have no real meaning but that he randomly types letters on his keyboard. "If I'm looking for an alien name I go like this," MacFarlane said, while closing his eyes and pretending to type blindly on his keboard. "And try to make something of the jumble of letters that come up on the screen. There's no art to it.""Seth MacFarlane and Adrianne Palicki". The Talk. Nov. 30, 2017. Production For more information on the production of seasons one and two, see main articles: Season 1; Season 2. According to Braga, the universe of The Orville is not completely mapped out. Rather, details are developed as each episode is written. "Finely detailed specifics are one of those things where we don’t have everything figured out. Very much like other shows I have done, the backstory is invented along the way." In a table interview in July 23, 2017, Producer Jason Clark explained that the show is episodic yet strives to maintain strong character memory, where character storytelling runs across the entire season or seasons. Writer and Producer David A. Goodman continued Clark's thought by contrasting The Orville's storytelling process against classic sci-fi like Star Trek: "The Seth MacFarlane plan means that the interaction of these characters is original. You haven't seen this kind of interaction between characters in this kind of show before, and that's what makes this show really special."Brannon Braga, David A. Goodman, Jason Clark THE ORVILLE Interview Comic Con HD". Seat42F. YouTube. July 23, 2017. Filming for the first season began on March 27, 2017, and ended on August 23. The pilot Old Wounds aired only several weeks later on September 10. Editing of the episodes continued at least through November 20, 2017, when Goodman and MacFarlane admitted that they were still editing the final episode, Mad Idolatry."Brannon Braga & The Orville Cast Full interview 2017 Panel NYC convention". NYC ComicCon. Nov. 20, 2017. Critical Reception The Orville received largely negative reviews after the Pilot had aired. Attracting only a 21% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and being dismissed by the majority of critics as a poor imitation of Science Fiction or space related television before it. In spite of this however, The Orville managed to gain some of the highest ratings on the entire network and receive an extremely high approval rating from audiences. Many celebrities including David Anders and Craig Ferguson have expressed over Twitter their support for the series and how much of a disconnect their appears to be between critics and fans in regards to the show's overall quality. Due to the high ratings and strong audience support Fox renewed The Orville for a second season in November 2017. Main Cast *Seth MacFarlane as Capt. Ed Mercer *Adrianne Palicki as Cmdr. Kelly Grayson *Penny Johnson Jerald as Dr. Claire Finn *Scott Grimes as Lt. Gordon Malloy *Peter Macon as Lt. Cmdr. Bortus *Halston Sage as Lt. Alara Kitan *J. Lee as Lt. Cmdr. John LaMarr *Mark Jackson as Isaac Trivia *The Orville Season 1 was originally meant to be Thirteen Episodes with the finale, Mad Idolatry airing December 14th 2017. However, for unknown reasons Episode 11 was moved and the finale instead slated to air a week earlier, shortening the entire season as a whole. *MacFarlane and Adrianne Palicki (Kelly Grayson) have confirmed that alcoholic beverages on film were in fact really alcoholic, usually whiskey."Seth MacFarlane and Adrianne Palicki". The Talk. Nov. 30, 2017. Sources See also * Orville fictional timeline * Orville fictional universe Category:The Orville Category:Television Series